


The Business of Pleasure

by southsidestyle



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Barchie Is Mentoned But Not Seen, Barebacking, Blow Jobs, But Spoiler Alert: Maybe Already Are, Canon Compliant, Come Swallowing, Creampie, Cunnilingus, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Friends With Benefits, Future Fic, Hand Jobs, Morning Sex, Multiple Orgasms, Porn With Plot, Sharing a Bed, Shower Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Who Definitely Don't Want To Date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-07 14:17:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18412355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/southsidestyle/pseuds/southsidestyle
Summary: They aren’t in love and they aren’t dating, but they’re something to each other. Partners, maybe, down in the trenches together; ones that aren’t as deep as they once were, but still deep enough to need help getting in and out sometimes.There’s a mutual respect between them, and trust and understanding, and certainly attraction, but there's no feelings. None at all.





	The Business of Pleasure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bloodredcherries](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodredcherries/gifts).



> I've never written for this pairing before, but I wanted to challenge myself and I like the chemistry between these two. I think there's a lot of potential for something fun and hot there, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I hope my recipient and anyone else reading enjoys it.

The most important lesson Veronica Lodge learned in high school was not to mix her business with her pleasure.

It had ruined her relationship with Archie beyond repair and then she’d gone and made the exact same mistake with Reggie not long after that—Veronica dragged those boys into a world they had no business being in and they just barely survived getting out of it.

And yet still, here she is, in bed with another business partner; skin glistening with sweat and raven hair twisted up in a tight fist as her moans and the wet sound of skin meeting skin echoes through the trailer.

But it isn’t a boy fucking her this time, with thrusting hips that know what they’re doing but don’t quite know _her_ the way they should, and she certainly doesn’t love him like he’s one of them, either.

Jughead’s a _man_ , one that belongs in the same world she does—who was part of it before they were truly part of each other’s—and so she knows this won’t end like the last ones did. Because like any high school lesson, Veronica’s since learned it’s not always as black and white as it seemed back then; it was never her _pleasure_ she shouldn’t have been mixing with her business, it was her heart.

And as Veronica’s orgasm hits her, hard and strong, and her body trembles around Jughead’s cock while he fucks her through it, she’s confident that’s the one part of herself she’ll never give him.

 

\---

 

A half hour, four orgasms between them and more bite marks than she can count later, Veronica sinks into the worn, familiar mattress as she tries to catch her breath, and Jughead does the same beside her.

“Don’t forget I have a meeting tomorrow,” she pants out after a minute or two, her vision still a little starry as she slowly regains the feeling in her limbs.

“I know,” Jughead sighs, in frustration or exhaustion or probably both. “Noon. Sweet Pea and Fangs will be there.”

Veronica simply hums her reply, trusting Jughead and his Serpents to do the job she’s been paying them to do for years now, and to do it well.

She doesn’t face nearly as many threats as she did when she originally hired them for protection back in high school, but with her father still doing business behind bars, and Riverdale still crawling with a ridiculous amount of gangs that are way too easy to be bought, it’s just smart business to still have one of her own on her payroll.

And if it keeps Jughead close to her and in her bed—or, her in his, most nights—well, that’s just a nice bonus.

“This was a pleasure as always, Jughead,” Veronica sighs herself a moment later as she reluctantly pushes herself up into a sitting position, only sparing her friend a backwards glance. “But I must be off.”

She doesn’t share more of an explanation than that, and Jughead doesn’t ask for one, just lets his fingers tickle her bare back for a moment more before she’s moving out of his reach and out of his bed.

Veronica can feel his eyes on her as she puts her clothes on, just as hungry as they were when he’d taken them off her almost an hour ago, but she resists the pull to go back to him and saunters her way out of his trailer instead.

 

\---

 

Jughead and Veronica have been sleeping together for a few years.

The first time it happened—one night over a year after graduation and after a bit too many drinks, but not enough to blame it on them—they’d both thought it would also be the _only_ time. For a while it was, but then it happened a second time, and then a third, and by the twentieth time, Veronica stopped counting.

They’d been the only ones left in Riverdale after graduation; Archie and Josie had gone to New York to pursue their music, if not their relationship; Reggie and Kevin went out West for school and while Cheryl and Toni didn’t go too far away to Highsmith, they had made the choice to leave Riverdale and all its drama behind after Nana Rose passed away during senior year.

And Betty… after everything that happened, Betty couldn’t stay in Riverdale, and after everything that happened, Jughead couldn’t leave, so there wasn’t much else they could do. They tried long distance for awhile, but all it did was prolong the inevitable.

So that left Jughead and Veronica.

Despite being in a tight knit group of friends, they had never really been close, even after the Serpents started working for her in junior year, so it was never something she expected to happen in a million years, but now it’s hard to remember a time when they weren’t like this.

They aren’t in love and they aren’t dating, but they’re _something_ to each other. Partners maybe, down in the trenches together; ones that aren’t as deep as they once were, but still deep enough to need help getting in and out sometimes.

There’s a mutual respect between them, and trust and understanding, and certainly attraction, but there's no feelings. None at all. Because Jughead had learned the same lesson Veronica had, and what they had was what was easiest for the both of them.

 

\---

 

Veronica’s meeting ends early, and she pulls out her phone while she pours herself a drink at the bar and waits for her escorts to come down once they’ve showed her guests out of Pop’s.

 **To: Jughead**  
_Meeting’s done. You free?_

It’s something she could have asked him yesterday when they were together, but as a rule, they don’t like to make plans ahead of time, not for anything but business; it helps in avoiding strings.

“Coast is clear,” Fangs announces as he bounds the stairs, his taller companion trailing not far behind. “Where to now, boss?”

“Sunnyside or the Pembrooke?” Sweet Pea questions knowingly, reaching for one of the shot glasses Veronica had filled.

Not many people know Veronica is sleeping with Jughead, but it’s not exactly a secret either, at least not to those that spend the most amount of time around them. She imagines Sweet Pea and Fangs give Jughead a harder time about it than they dare to give her, but sometimes they can’t resist ribbing her a bit.

Veronica finds she likes that, though; it makes her feel like they’re as much her friends as they are her employees. And with a life like hers, in a town as empty as Riverdale has become over the years, it’s nice to have some friends.

“To be determined,” Veronica answers, flashing the boys a bright smile as she takes a swig of her drink. By the time she’s slamming her glass back on the bar, her phone is vibrating in her hand and the message that greets her has her eyes darkening. Or the picture attached does, at least.

Catching the shift in expression, Fangs leans forward, alert. “What?”

Shaking her head, Veronica takes a few more moments to admire the sight of fingers she knows so well wrapped around the cock she knows even better, before she pockets her phone and sends the boys in front of her a cheeky smile.

“Sunnyside it is, gentlemen.”

 

\---

 

The door’s unlocked when Veronica gets there, and when she finds Jughead waiting for her in his room, he’s still hard and ready for her.

“You know I don’t like it when you start without me, lover boy,” she tells him, trying to sound stern, but probably not succeeding.

If she wasn’t so horny herself, Veronica might have attempted to punish him in some way so he’d know better for next time, but the ache between her legs is growing too fast for her to do anything but satisfy it immediately, and that would have probably just encouraged him, anyways.

“Had to make sure you’d come,” Jughead explains from his spot on the bed, hand still working his cock as he watches her strip out of her designer clothes and toss them to the floor of his trailer like they’re worth nothing.

Veronica elects to ignore the obvious double entendre and puts her mouth to better use, kissing and licking up Jughead’s chest as she mounts him in just her underwear, until she reaches his lips and seals them together.

“I almost didn’t come,” she confesses when she pulls away for air, her raven hair hanging down in Jughead’s face as she peers down at him. “So you better be up to convincing me I made the right choice.”

He laughs, always up for a challenge, and leans up to kiss her again, letting her stay on top just long enough for him to unclip her bra and toss it away before he’s rolling them over so that she’s underneath him now.

Being on the bottom sometimes was something Veronica had to get used to at the start, but years later, she finds she enjoys it just as much as being on top now, at least on the right days—the days she doesn’t need to feel that control; when what she needs is actually to hand it over.

Today, for no particular reason, is one of those days.

Usually there is a reason—something with her father or her business—but today Veronica’s just in the mood to let Jughead set the pace, to let him do with her as he pleases; to have him spread her wide open and fuck the regular stress of the day right out of her, like he does best.

And that’s exactly what he does tonight, after he spends long, torturous minutes teasing her through her panties, rutting his hard cock against her covered clit as they makeout for longer than Veronica can stand to, until he finally stops.

Until he finally moves down from her lips and kisses through the valley of her breasts, down her stomach, and takes the band of her black lace underwear between his teeth and peels them down to her thighs before using his fingers to finish the job.

Veronica knows the insides of her thighs are soaked as Jughead licks and sucks at them, continuing his teasing until his mouth meets her sex and he dives in. It’s just more teasing, though; quick licks through her folds, like he just wants to taste her, leaving her clit aching when he moves back up her body to settle between her legs.

“Still doubting you made the right decision?” Jughead wonders tauntingly, face wet and smile smug.

It makes it impossible for Veronica not to play along. “I could use a little more convincing.”

“And how can I do that?” he wonders, trying to sound innocent.

The underside of his cock is rubbing against her clit again, but this time there’s no lace between them and Veronica’s patience for teasing and banter has long since expired.

So instead of playing along, as much as she usually enjoys their back and forth, Veronica just grabs a fist full of thick hair at the back of his neck and practically growls, “Just shut up and _fuck me_ , Jughead.”  

He raises an eyebrow—maybe in surprise, maybe in challenge—but he doesn’t say anything as he moves his hips just the way he needs to so that his cock slides through her wetness and settles at her entrance, and easily slips inside her.

Veronica gasps out a strangled moan as she’s suddenly filled, her slick walls stretching around the large size she’s grown accustomed to, and her eyes roll back when Jughead gives her no time to adjust before he starts pumping his hips.

He doesn’t start jackhammering into her, but his pace is hardly slow, either. It’s a good medium, though, after all that teasing, and when he settles into a rhythm, Veronica can already feel the knot in her belly getting bigger.

Her fingers flex around his neck, nails digging in just enough to leave little marks, and she pulls him down so that his forehead is against hers and she can look into his deep green eyes before hers have to flutter closed from the feeling of his thrusts.

By the time Jughead hooks one of his arms under her knee to spread her wider and fuck her deeper, Veronica’s rolling her hips up to meet his, chasing that first orgasm that’s been building since he sent that picture.  

Jughead laughs at Veronica’s obvious desperation, his breath hot against her face, and for a second she worries he’s going to prolong it now that he knows how close she is, but she whimpers in relief when instead of stopping or slowing down, he picks up his pace.

Each thrust hits harder now, Jughead’s cock reaching further inside her everytime he barrels down, and it’s not long before Veronica feels her toes starting to curl in anticipation, as that familiar tingling feeling begins to spread.

“Come for me, Veronica,” Jughead pants out against her face, and his breathing is labored but his voice is somehow steady to her ears. “Come on, babe, come for me. I wanna _feel_ you.”

And as if following his command, Veronica’s entire body starts to shake as her orgasm finally hits her hard, starting from curled toes and spreading through every nerve ending in her body.

“Oh, oh, _oh_ , fuck,” she mumbles incoherently, Jughead’s name slipping out through her moans, too. She wraps her legs around him, the heels of her feet digging into his ass to keep him inside her while she clenches and throbs around his cock.

While it doesn’t last nearly long enough for her liking, she still feels a sudden exhaustion once the thick of it has past and she just has the aftershocks making her tremble, but Jughead doesn’t let her rest.

Dick still hard and a glint in his eyes, Jughead pulls out and off of Veronica just long enough to turn her limp body over, slip right back inside her and start fucking her into the bed from behind.

With her pussy still sensitive from her orgasm and his cock feeling even bigger in this position, it’s not long at all before Veronica's ready to come again, and when Jughead’s hand sneaks under her and his fingers find her slippery clit and start rubbing hard circles against it, she’s coming again in no time at all.

Her whole body shudders underneath Jughead, and as she turns her face into the mattress to muffle her moans, she just barely registers the way his thrusts turn erratic before they still completely as he buries his entire length inside of her and lets go.

Veronica whines as his cum spills into her, all thick and warm, and she swears she can feel his cock throbbing with every spurt, until finally, he’s empty and she’s full and they’re both completely spent.

Jughead goes limp just like her, and lays all his weight on her back for a few moments while he recovers, until he eventually rolls off and collapses on his own back beside her to finish catching his breath. Veronica takes a bit longer to recover, waiting until her vision completely comes back before she shifts onto her side to watch the rise and fall of Jughead’s chest with a lazy and sated smile.

“Okay,” she breathes out through a laugh, voice rough and throat sore from all that moaning. “Definitely better than spending the afternoon going over my books at the Pembrooke.”

Echoing her laughter, Jughead smiles, and not even that smugly. “Glad I could be of service.”

 

\---

 

Veronica usually leaves once the sex is done, but today Jughead offers to make her dinner, and whatever he plans on heating up feels more appealing than eating a four course meal alone in her penthouse apartment, so she stays.

“How’d your meeting go, by the way?” Jughead asks as she wanders into the kitchen in one of his oversized S t-shirts, panties and nothing else. She grabs a bottle of water from the fridge before peering over his shoulder to see what’s for dinner—it’s a frozen pizza.

“A colossal waste of my precious and expensive time,” Veronica huffs as she hops up onto the counter beside the stove and watches Jughead put the pizza in the oven. “I really wish misogynists like that would just come right out and say they can’t handle working with a strong woman from the beginning and save us all the time and pretense.”

Jughead raises an eyebrow, closing the oven door and setting the timer before moving to stand in front of Veronica, nudging her legs apart to settle between them.

“You want me to talk to them?” he asks, eyes on hers as his rough fingers massage the soft skin of her bare thighs.

His words sound threatening, but Veronica knows that’s not what he means. Jughead does a lot of things for her, but knocking heads isn’t one of them. What he’s really offering is to pretend to be her boyfriend or fiance—the man behind the operation—to convince some sexist asshole that their business is in good, _manly,_ hands.

Unfortunately, it’s something he’s had to do once or twice before, when Veronica's need for their business outweighed her pride.  

Veronica clicks her tongue and rolls her eyes. “No need to get your cape,” she tells him, fingers brushing through messy black hair affectionately as she holds his open gaze. “They’re not worth it, my father can have them. Just venting about the patriarchy.”

“So the usual,” Jughead teases lightly, smile curling up his lips as he leans forward to press them against the column of Veronica’s neck.

“The usual,” Veronica echoes, her own lips parting and tugging upwards as she wraps her legs around Jughead’s waist and pulls him closer.

His hand finds its way between their bodies and then her legs, his fingers teasing her through her damp panties before they’re tugged aside and he sinks into her. Veronica’s breath hitches and her thighs tighten around Jughead, holding him to her as her body rocks against his pumping fingers, chasing the orgasm that’s already building.

It kinda feels like they’re working against a clock, but by the time the buzzer goes off and dinner is ready, Veronica comes twice, so she’s pretty sure that means she wins.

 

\---

 

Things don’t take any kind of 180 after that, but some things have changed between, even if it's just in a minute way, like how Veronica stays over for dinner more—not every night, but some—and on others, when she works late, she invites Jughead to stay for a drink or two.

It still always ends in sex, but something is different between them now. She’s not sure if it’s in a good or bad way yet, but Veronica hasn’t made any effort to change it back—to make it just sex and business again—so she guesses it can’t be all that bad.

“You got one of these, too?” Veronica asks one night when she’s sitting on the couch in Jughead’s trailer, nursing a wine cooler from the pack he bought just for her and waiting for him to finish cleaning up from dinner.

Jughead leans out of the kitchen to see what she’s talking about and Veronica holds up the invitation she found sitting under a couple of magazines on his coffee table.

It’s for Archie and Betty’s engagement party.

He gives her a wince of sympathy. “Yeah, the other day,” he confirms, disappearing from her view for a moment to finish something before he makes his way over to the couch to sit down beside her with a beer in his hand. “I wasn’t sure if they’d send you one too, or if you’d want to talk about it, so I didn’t mention it.”

Archie and Betty and their inevitable coupling up is not something Jughead and Veronica ever talk about, and not just because they don’t tend to talk about anything with any kind of emotional weight to it.

Veronica knows it’s more for her benefit than his, since Jughead and Betty saw their relationship through to the end and parted on good terms, while she and Archie were a different story.

She’s not carrying a torch for that boy anymore, but Veronica would be lying if she said they didn’t still feel unfinished somehow; enough so that getting that invite in the mail had stung initially, if just because of how impersonal it felt.

“Are you planning to attend?” she wonders, flipping the card between her fingers and brushing right past Jughead’s indirect questions of _'are you okay?'_ and _'do you want to talk about it?'_

“My dad and Alice are going, so yeah.” Veronica had figured as much; not only is Archie still his best friend, even if they don’t see each other much these days, but Betty is his pseudo step sister now, as weird as that is. “What about you?”

Veronica shakes her head, more to clear her thoughts than to answer the question, because she honestly hasn’t decided yet; absence of torch or not, the thought of going to her ex-boyfriend’s engagement party single isn’t exactly appealing, especially when the girl he’s engaged to is her former-or-maybe-even-still best friend.

“Undecided,” she answers nonchalantly, shaking the tension by tossing the invitation back onto the table where she found it and finishing the last of her drink before placing that on the table too and then reaching for the crotch of Jughead’s boxer shorts.

It’s an obvious distraction and a cue to drop the subject, and it’s one Jughead doesn’t voice any complaints about. He just leans back against the couch to give Veronica room to work, and lets out a sigh of relief when she pulls his cock out through the flap and starts pumping it in her fist.

Her thoughts are elsewhere as she works him to full length, and Jughead must sense it, because he cradles her chin and tilts it up, holding her gaze for a moment before guiding her face towards his so he can kiss her and keep her in the moment, connected to him.

They kiss until Jughead’s cock feels hard in her hand, and then Veronica moves her already swollen lips down to wrap themselves around it; taking the fat head into her warm mouth as she swipes her tongue across his slit to collect the pre-cum leaking from it.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Jughead moans lowly, the hand that’s not holding his beer moving to curl around the back of Veronica’s head. He doesn’t put any pressure on her, just threads his fingers through her dark hair and follows the up and down motion as she bobs in his lap. “Your mouth feels so good.”

Veronica practically purrs at the simple praise, the vibrations making Jughead’s hips jerk up a bit and into her mouth. She hollows out her cheeks so she can take more of his length, getting about a third of the way down before she needs to come up for air.

Jughead’s cock is big in all the best ways—Veronica likes them thick—and while it was a lot to take those first few times, it’s like second nature to her now, so when she leans back down and lets the tip touch the back of her throat, she knows how long she can keep it there without gagging.

She swallows around his cock head, her fist still pumping his shaft from its base to her lips, and it makes her feel kind of powerful when Jughead’s body jerks and trembles from her touch.

Veronica didn’t exactly like to give blowjobs back in New York—she always thought there was something a little degrading in the act—but she loves the control it gives her now; loves the little sounds that fall from Jughead’s mouth when she switches hands so she can cup his balls, and the way the fingers in her hair tighten as his nuts do.

After years, she knows all of Jughead’s tells, so when he comes, Veronica’s expecting it, and she pulls back just enough so she doesn’t choke when he starts spurting into her mouth. She keeps stroking him as he unloads thick ropes of cum onto her tongue, and she waits until he’s emptied every last drop and his body is slack against the couch before she sits up and swallows it all dutifully.

Veronica smiles when she’s done, pleased with herself at how satisfied Jughead looks and the fact that redheaded ghosts of her past are the last thing on her mind.  

 

\---

 

The first time Veronica sleeps over is about a week later, when she comes by his trailer later than she normally does, after a particularly nasty showdown with her father over the phone.

Jughead looks surprised to see her, but doesn’t question why she’s there. He just steps aside and lets her into his trailer, offering her a drink and leading her towards his bedroom when she declines.

It isn’t until Veronica notices the turned down sheets that she realizes she woke him up, and when she turns back to look at him— _really_ look at him, with his messy hair and tired eyes—she finds herself thinking, maybe for the first time, just how cute Jughead is.

“Do you mind if we just sleep?” he asks with a yawn, moving from behind her to get back into bed.

She shakes her head, realizing that’s all she really came here for. “That sounds perfect.”

Jughead watches as she changes out of her clothes and into one of his shirts, but she doesn’t feel the regular hunger or expectation in his gaze tonight, and when she slips under the covers, Veronica doesn’t think twice about curling into his side.

 

\---

 

Veronica wakes up the next morning to a soft, warm mouth around one of her nipples and teasing fingers dipping just past the line of her panties.

“Mmm, good morning to me,” she mumbles sleepily, her own fingers reaching up to card through dark locks lazily. “What time is it?” She looks to the clock on her left instead of waiting for an answer, and finds that it’s only 8 AM. “I’m supposed to be meeting with Elio’s guy today.”

Jughead hums against her, grazing his teeth against her hard nipple before pulling back enough to speak. “Not until eleven,” he reminds her with a mischievous grin, shifting his body under the covers so that he’s straddling her now. “That gives us lots of time to sleep in.”

Veronica sighs as Jughead starts kissing across her chest, and she waits until his attention has moved down her stomach until she pulls the large t-shirt off instead of leaving it bunched up around her neck.

She’s naked by the time Jughead has settled between her legs, her panties joining his shirt on the floor, and she almost squeals at the first touch of his tongue, last night’s hazy dream coming true.

His green eyes watch her as he licks through her, soft flat tongue lapping up her slit, from where she needs his fingers most to where his thumb is ghosting over her clit teasingly.

It feels lazy and slow and torturous, and if Veronica’s body wasn’t so tired still, she’d be writhing and arching and begging him to give her more, but the pace is perfect for the early morning and she’s content to lay there and bask in the pleasure.

Jughead takes his sweet time, licking through Veronica’s slick folds for what feels like forever, like he’s tasting her for the first time instead of closer to the two-hundredth, and by the time he brings his tongue to her slick entrance and dips into her, it’s enough to make her come.

The orgasm hits her full body, starting from her toes and spreading out, and she whines through it, eyes rolled back into her head as her thighs tremble and her hips buck. The walls of her cunt pulsate against Jughead’s tongue, wanting something more to cling to, and they get it when he slips two fingers into her and starts working her up for a second orgasm before the first has even completely finished.

Veronica tries to say something, _anything_ —to beg for more or beg him to slow down, she doesn’t know—but all that comes out between her moaning is a whiny, “ _Jughead…_ ” as he wraps swollen lips around her slippery clit and sucks.

Her back arches at the sudden overstimulation, the change in pace and pressure making her head spin, and she tries to concentrate on the shapes and letters Jughead’s tongue is tracing against her, but her attempt to delay the inevitable proves useless against his knowledge of her body.

Veronica’s second orgasm hits her harder than the first, her thighs trembling again and squeezing around Jughead to keep him in place between her legs as she rolls against the waves of pleasure washing over her; one hand fisting messy bed head while the other grasps at her chest.

This one lasts longer too, her pussy staying tight around the fingers curled inside her until the last of it has passed and the rest of her muscles can relax. Jughead keeps working over her with his tongue after he’s slipped out of her, soft kitten licks to bring her the rest of the way down, until she tugs at his hair when she just can’t take any more.  

Jughead’s smiling when he pulls away, mouth and chin wet with her arousal, and he kisses his way up Veronica’s body until he gets to her lips, kissing her soft and languidly, so she’ll taste herself for the rest of the morning.

 

\---

 

Jughead gives Veronica a ride to La Bonne Nuit on his bike that morning, but has to leave her in the care of Sweet Pea and Fangs to deal with some business of his own.

“You’re driving into work together now,” is the first thing Sweet Pea says to her as she enters Pop’s, he and Fangs lounging in a booth as they wait for her to open up the speakeasy.

“Big step,” Fangs adds with a grin.

Veronica rolls her eyes at their usual teasing. “Jughead was just dropping me off,” she plays it off, waving at Pop before she leads the boys downstairs to get ready for her meeting about possibly hosting illegal poker games once a month.

(She watched Molly’s Game with Jughead last week and Veronica’s been intrigued ever since).

“After you spent the night,” Sweet Pea points out, his long legs helping him reach the bottom of the stairs before her. He turns around to send her a smirk. “You gonna start going on dates now, too? Are you gonna go to Andrews’ engagement party together? Because that would be fucking hilarious.”

“How do you even know about that?” Veronica wonders, ignoring the rest of his words. “Did they invite all of Riverdale High?”

It’s Fangs that answers; “We were there when FP told Jug he had to go.”

“Mmm,” is all Veronica has to say to that. “Well, I don’t even know if I’m going yet, so that should answer your question.”

There’s a loud noise of protest that makes Veronica jump a little as she reaches the bar.

“You gotta go!” Sweet Pea insists. “Your ex-boyfriend and your best friend are getting married, you gotta go to save face and show everyone it doesn’t bother you.”

“He’s right,” Fangs agrees in an annoying sing-songy voice, starting to unstack the chairs.

“It _doesn’t_ bother me,” Veronica insists, mostly telling the truth. “And please don’t mansplain the importance of keeping up appearances to me; I assure you that I was more well versed in the art by age ten than you could ever hope be.”

“Obviously not,” Sweet Pea scoffs. “Or you’d realize you’ll just look like the pathetic ex, still hung up on the ginger stallion if you don’t show up— _especially_ if Jones does and you don’t.”

Veronica tries to argue his point, but when she opens her mouth, she can’t get the words out because she knows he’s right. “Shut up and do what I pay you to do.”

The boys laugh and high-five, and Veronica’s eyes find the ceiling.

 

\---

 

By the time the meeting’s done, Veronica has a text from Jughead asking if she wants him to swing by so they can have dinner at Pop’s, but she opts to have her driver drop her back at the Pembrooke instead.

She spends the rest of the night and the following day contemplating Sweet Pea’s words, but more than that, she thinks about the idea of going on an actual date with Jughead.

Because that’s what it would be; not just two friends going to their exes’ engagement party together as moral support, but a _date_.

If she goes with Jughead to Archie and Betty’s party, it wouldn’t be to prove anything or to save face or anything like that—Veronica Lodge has many suitors who would feel privileged to accompany her anywhere she pleased. And yet, Veronica can’t imagine going with anyone else, and not just because he’s the only other person in the world that can understand what it will feel like to be there.

Maybe that’s what’s got her so hung up on Sweet Pea’s suggestion—it’s not the thought of going on a date with Jughead that has Veronica so thrown for a loop, it’s the realization that maybe she’s kind of already _been_ dating him without realizing it.

It shouldn’t be such a surprise, since it’s not like she didn’t notice the shift when it happened, but it’s still hard to wrap her head around, and even harder to admit.

Veronica broke her own rule, but the truth is, she broke it a long time ago, and has just been trying to convince herself that she had merely bent it.

She’s been mixing her business with her pleasure for years now and telling herself that it’s different this time, and it was—it _is_ —but not because she’s done such a good job of keeping her heart out of it. Her relationship with Jughead is different than the one she had with Archie or even with Reggie, because _he’s_ different; he’s different than them, and more like her than they could have ever been.

Somehow, some way, on every level they need to, they just work, and she’s done denying it.

 

\---

 

Veronica wakes up early the next morning and has her driver bypass Pop’s to take her to Sunnyside to see Jughead first thing.

She knocks twice and waits, but when she doesn’t get an answer, she uses the spare key he gave her last year and lets herself in.

The sound of the shower is easy to hear from the door of the small trailer, and Veronica considers waiting for him to finish for just a moment before she smiles wickedly to herself and makes her way towards the bathroom instead. She doesn’t knock this time, just pushes the door open and slips inside, grinning at the outline of Jughead’s naked body through the thin curtain separating them.

They’ve both joined the other during showers on a whim plenty of times, but for some reason Veronica feels the need to ask today. “Up for some company?”

She sees and hears him jump in surprise at her sudden presence and she bites back a laugh. “Veronica?”

“Should I be insulted that’s a question you have to ask?” she can’t help but wonder with a scoff, mostly joking, but kind of worried, too.

Instead of answering, Jughead pokes his head out of the side of the curtain and reaches his arm out to pull her in. “Get in here.”

“Wait, wait,” she actually giggles, pulling out of his reach to get her clothes off before joining him.

Like the rest of Jughead’s place, the shower is tiny, with just enough room to fit the both of them in there at the same time, but they make do, the way they’re immediately wrapped around each other.

There are very few things they haven’t tried before, and shower sex is certainly not one of them; they move around the cramped space with practiced ease, water cascading around them as Jughead presses Veronica against the wall and she gets him hard with slow, deliberate pulls at his cock.

The water is still warm by the time Jughead is ready, and he’s careful to keep a good hold on her as she lifts one of her legs and gives him enough room to slip inside her. Veronica’s cunt feels extra tight standing up, and the back of her head meets cracked tiles as her moans sound like they echo in the small shower.

Jughead finds a good, safe pace—somewhere between long strokes and quick thrusts—and when he somehow finds a way to get his fingers on her clit without losing his grip on her, Veronica doesn’t stand a chance.

Her orgasm hits her faster and even harder than usual for a reason she might understand if her brain wasn’t buzzing with nothing but pleasure, and she drapes herself across Jughead’s chest as she comes, clinging to him to keep upright as her body trembles and spasms around his cock.

He stills his hips, but not his fingers, rubbing tight circles around Veronica’s clit to draw her orgasm out for as long as possible; the feeling of her walls pulling his cock in deep and setting his own pleasure off, just as hers begins to taper.

Suddenly Veronica’s as wet and warm inside as she is out, Jughead spurting into her as his body jerks with its release. All she can feel as her high starts to fade is _throbbing_ , and she honestly can’t tell if it’s his or her own, but she likes to think it’s them together.

They hold each other for minutes after, until they’ve both come all the way back down. Then he loosens his hold once he’s sure Veronica can stand on her own two feet; his cock softening and easily slipping out of her as they move.

“Well, this was a nice surprise,” Jughead laughs happily, dropping his forehead against hers. “Not how I expected my morning to go.”

Veronica lets out her own breathy laugh, her eyelashes fluttering against the water running down her face, and she pulls away just enough to look up at him.

“I actually didn’t come here for that, believe it or not,” she tells him with another chuckle, carefully stepping back on wobbly legs to put some space between them as she gathers her thoughts. “I came here to talk to you about something, something important.”

It takes Jughead a moment to realize she means right now. “Is this really the best time to be having an important conversation?” he calls her out, but his tone is nothing but amused.

Veronica looks at Jughead—his wet hair hang over his eyes, but his smile bright—and any nerves she might have had vanish completely. “Would you want to go to Archie and Betty’s engagement party with me?”

Jughead doesn’t exactly look surprised by her question, but his first response is still, “As moral support? Or are you suggesting some kind of fake dating scenario? Because that’s never really been one of my favorite tropes…”

“As my _date_ ,” Veronica clarifies, stepping closer and reaching up to push wet strands of hair out of his pretty green eyes before she asks again. “Jughead Jones, will you go on a date with me?”

Jughead’s grin widens at her words, and his eyes crinkle in this way that makes Veronica think he might have been waiting for her to ask that for a while.

“Yeah, Veronica, I will,” he sighs happily, hand finding her waist. Veronica beams at Jughead, carefully leaning up on her toes to press a kiss against the chin. “As long as you don’t start calling me Juggiekins or something,” he teases as her kisses move along his jaw. “Because that would be grounds for immediate dumping.”

“You should be so lucky to have the privilege!” Veronica all but squeals in faux offensive, playfully smacking him in the chest.

She tries to wiggle out of his grip, but Jughead laughs as he wraps his arms around her to keep her flush against him, and she finds his eyes are a darker green than they were just moments ago when she looks up into them again.

“Very lucky,” Jughead agrees with a barely there nod, and when he leans down to kiss her, it feels different than every kiss they’ve shared before.

**Author's Note:**

> Would very much appreciate it if you hit that kudos button or left a comment if you liked it. Thanks for reading and I hope nobody minded a bit more plot and fluff than usual.


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